Double Station Cash Weekend!

[Amnerys]

<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/images/en/features/articles/stationcash/double/double_weekend.png" /></p> <p>How do <em>you</em> celebrate the 4th of July weekend?</p> <p>Fireworks? BBQ? How about <strong><em>Double Station Cash? </em></strong></p> <p>Players with active accounts in good standing in <em>EverQuest</em>, <em>EverQuest</em><em> II</em>, <em>Free Realms, Pox Nora, </em>and<em> The Agency: Covert Ops </em>can take advantage of this special promotional offer from Sony Online Entertainment.  Simply purchase any pre-paidStation Cash retail game card <em>(don't worry that it says Free Realms, it works for all SOE Marketplaces!) </em>at any one of our participating retailers and redeem that card during the promotional period for double its value in Station Cash.  That’s right, <em>double</em> its value in Station Cash!!</p><div><a href="http://www.soe.com/images/community/features/station_cash_folder2/GameCard.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.soe.com/images/community/features/station_cash_folder2/GameCard_th.png" border="0" /></a></div><p>Places you can find SC cards: 7-Eleven, Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS, Rite Aid, Speedway, Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, or Walmart. Redeem your card online through <a title="http://www.station.sony.com/" href="http://www.station.sony.com/">www.station.sony.com</a> during the promotional period. </p> <p>Only cards redeemed between Friday, July 2nd, 2010 (after 12 noon PDT) and Monday, July 5th, 2010 (before 12 midnight PDT) will receive the double Station Cash value bonus.  Cards may be purchased any time in advance, but to receive the promotional Station Cash bonus, cards must be redeemed successfully during the promotional period.  Once successfully redeemed, your Wallet Balance will reflect your new pre-paid Station Cash balance plus your bonus 100% Station Cash value.</p> <p><strong>The Station Cash granted through Free Realms starter card packs will not be included in this offer.</strong></p> <p>To redeem your cards:</p> <p>At <a href="http://www.station.sony.com/">http://www.station.sony.com/</a>  click on "MY ACCOUNT" on the top navigation bar.</p> <p>From the drop down menu select "Enter Activation Code".</p> <p>On the Enter Activation Code screen, select "STATION CASH" in the GAME drop down menu and enter your card number in the space provided.</p> <p>You can ALSO go to "My Account," then "Subscription Info," on the drop down and select the "STATION CASH BALANCE." Then click on "ADD FUNDS" under your account balance. You will see a screen with purchase selections. Look at the bottom where it says "OR" ENTER ACTIVATION CODE. You can enter your card number here as well to get your double points.</p>

[Piltow]

<p>Can you verify which time frame is correct?</p><p>This thread shows Noon Fri.-Midnight Mon.</p><p>The "Double XP Weekend" thread shows 4PM Fri.-10AM Tue. and it says for both dbl xp and dbl station cash.</p>

[Cyliena]

<p>Free Realms also announced double SC for Fri-Mon, so I'd go with that. I'm guessing the Fri-Tues is the double exp. Confirmation would be appreciated regardless though! <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[stayx]

<p>How can i get them in germany?</p><p>We dont have this "<span >7-Eleven, Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS, Rite Aid, Speedway, Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, or Walmart" here.</span></p><p>I need to buy some Station Cash but i cant, i'm located in germany thats the problem... why i cant buy this online in the SOE Market?</p><p>Its sad really!</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>stayx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>How can i get them in germany?</p><p>We dont have this "<span>7-Eleven, Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS, Rite Aid, Speedway, Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, or Walmart" here.</span></p><p>I need to buy some Station Cash but i cant, i'm located in germany thats the problem... why i cant buy this online in the SOE Market?</p><p>Its sad really!</p></blockquote><p>*nod*  Not realy fair, but that's international commerce for you.  What you can do is get someone you trust in the states to buy them for you can email you the codes.  Send the money via PayPal.  I've done this for friends in Great Britain.</p>

[Ciara52]

<p>I bought my cards last night and they are sitting on my desk here at work   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />  BUT which time is right.  Is it I can load them up at noon and they activate at 4pm or do I put them in my purse and wait until 4pm.  </p>

[Cyliena]

<p><cite>Ciara52 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I bought my cards last night and they are sitting on my desk here at work   <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />  BUT which time is right.  Is it I can load them up at noon and they activate at 4pm or do I put them in my purse and wait until 4pm.  </p></blockquote><p>Wait until 4pm PDT. I always go the safe route and wait a few extra hours just in case. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[bboyhalfstep]

<p>How does this work?  When you buy a $10 card which I believe gives you 1000 points, when you redeem it this weekend will it show up as 2000 points?  Are you able to transfer SC points to other accounts?  What ideally I would like to do would be buy the SF expansion using station cash for my account and my wive's account.  What would be the best way to do this?</p><p>Thanks in advance.</p>

[Barx]

<p><cite>bboyhalfstep wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>How does this work?  When you buy a $10 card which I believe gives you 1000 points, when you redeem it this weekend will it show up as 2000 points?  Are you able to transfer SC points to other accounts?  What ideally I would like to do would be buy the SF expansion using station cash for my account and my wive's account.  What would be the best way to do this?</p><p>Thanks in advance.</p></blockquote><p>Yes, a 1000SC card will grant you 2000SC during the promotional period. I don't think you can transfer SC however, so if you want to buy the expansion (which at last check was like 4300 or so SC) you'd probably have to put $30 worth of cards on each account if you have zero SC currently (since $20 in cards would only give you 4000, and I don't know if the have smaller denominations than $10).</p>

[stayx]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>stayx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>How can i get them in germany?</p><p>We dont have this "<span>7-Eleven, Best Buy, Blockbuster, CVS, Rite Aid, Speedway, Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, or Walmart" here.</span></p><p>I need to buy some Station Cash but i cant, i'm located in germany thats the problem... why i cant buy this online in the SOE Market?</p><p>Its sad really!</p></blockquote><p>*nod*  Not realy fair, but that's international commerce for you.  What you can do is get someone you trust in the states to buy them for you can email you the codes.  Send the money via PayPal.  I've done this for friends in Great Britain.</p></blockquote><p>I dont know guys in the states, its a shame really im not amused about this.</p>

[Crickett]

<p>Say,, pardon.</p><p>The news section says "</p><p>"This weekend, <strong>from 4pm Pacific on Friday, July 2nd until 10am Pacific on Tuesday, July 6th,</strong> we will be running BOTH a Double Station Cash promotion *and* a true Double XP (+100% XP) promotion.</p><p>So go get those Station Cash cards so you can redeem them, and plan to play a ton this weekend! We'll see you on line!"</p><p>Yet on logging in it says "<strong>between noon on July 2 and and 11:59 on july 5th</strong>."</p><p>Could we get a "which one is what" please?</p><p>I'm just asking 'cause these cards are burning a hole in my pocket....<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Thank you</p>

[Dareena]

<p><cite>stayx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I dont know guys in the states, its a shame really im not amused about this.</p></blockquote><p>Here was the suggestion that was made in a similar thread.  Go to Ebay and you should find some vendors who are selling Station Cash cards.  A SC card is really just a piece of plastic with a serial code #.  Appearantly if you purchase one of those cards from a reputable Ebay vendor, then the vendor will just email you the code #.</p><p>For non-US residents, this sounds like your best option.</p>

[Ciara52]

<p>OK!  I was brave and took the plunge lol   I put in one of my cash cards for 2500 and it said you have 5000 credited!  So it's noon and it's good to go  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  </p>

[Amnerys]

<p>The events are triggered separately, so the Double Station Cash time should for sure be the time listed in the DSC feature. The time listed in the Double XP feature should be the specific time for Double XP.</p><p>Sorry for the confusion! I've changed the wording in the XP feature to make it a little clearer. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Hecula]

<p>Really, the card-only nature of this promotion is inconvenient for more than just our international bretheren. I'm not going to go into it, but it took me 1.5 hours and driving to 4 locations to even find these cards and I'm in the Chicago area, not Hicksville, USA.</p><p>If the purpose of this event is to raise awareness of these cards with the retailers, it was a bust before it even started. Noone even knows what they are. 2 Best Buys I went to thought I wanted the Free Realms Starter Packs (which are free and they had plenty of). When I told them those were the wrong ones, they told me they have never heard of the ones I was looking for. I eventually found some cards at a Speedway of all places and the manager was there when I bought them and looked at me funny and told me the ones he sold me were the first ones he's ever sold.</p><p>Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything but if this was opened up to regular purchases of station cash it would be much more successful with really no downside.</p>

[Vortexelemental]

<p>I went to the CVS by me and the manager who rung me up also said the same thing. Never seen anyone buy one of these what's it for?</p><p>I am also the only one to my knowledge who buys thems at my walgreens.</p>

[Fyranaer]

<p><cite>Hecula wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Really, the card-only nature of this promotion is inconvenient for more than just our international bretheren. I'm not going to go into it, but it took me 1.5 hours and driving to 4 locations to even find these cards and I'm in the Chicago area, not Hicksville, USA.</p><p>If the purpose of this event is to raise awareness of these cards with the retailers, it was a bust before it even started. Noone even knows what they are. 2 Best Buys I went to thought I wanted the Free Realms Starter Packs (which are free and they had plenty of). When I told them those were the wrong ones, they told me they have never heard of the ones I was looking for. I eventually found some cards at a Speedway of all places and the manager was there when I bought them and looked at me funny and told me the ones he sold me were the first ones he's ever sold.</p><p>Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything but if this was opened up to regular purchases of station cash it would be much more successful with really no downside.</p></blockquote><p>I live way the hell out.  I'd have to drive over 40 miles just to check Best Buy and Target.  I called and can't get a straight answer out of anyone at the stores as to whether they even have them.  The Toys-R-Us is even farther and I'm not going to bother.</p><p>I don't understand why this has to be so complicated.  The other game I play that has a cash shop run bonus deals online all the time.  It's simple and convenient.  If you make it hard for people to spend their money, they won't.</p>

[Skeez1e]

<p>I live in the sticks so SOE doesn't get my money this time round.  I hope they consider another means of distribution in the future, would be nice to do some Marketplace impulse shopping.</p>

[Christofurious]

<p>Well, SOE got their money out of me...by slightly deceptive advertising of the double station cash weekend.  I fired up the game launcher and I see a link under the "Did you know?" section that says "It's a double xp and double station cash weekend!".  I clicked on the link to see what time things start and was taken to this page: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605" target="_blank">http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605</a></p><p>On that specific page, it tells me absolutely nothing about the card only restriction...not even a link to the page where it explains all the information about said restrictions.  Just looking at the above page (which is the only advertisement so to speak for this promotion when logging into the game) leads me to believe that buying station cash through the in-game process will provide double station cash.</p><p>As a casual player, I don't tend to browse the forums, nor do I frequent the game's website to see the "news".  I just click on the launcher and play the game.  Any news I get comes from the scrolling banner at top right of the launcher, the Did You Know section under that, and the in-game welcome screen.  It is only because I purchased station cash in the game and saw that I didn't get double for what I spent that I'm even here finding out about the card only restriction and subsequently posting.  I'm probably not going to get my money back and don't know that I'll go through the trouble of trying, but at least fix the link above (by providing a link to or just listing the details abou the card only restriction) or make it more obvious that buying station cash in-game DOES NOT qualify for the so-called double station cash weekend.  This is real world money, I shouldn't have to scour the forums and/or game's website to check for limitations that aren't even hinted at on your "advertising" page that is presented to me on the launcher.  If I have to do that, then you are failing at properly advertising what you are selling (station cash, in this case) and you are engaging in deceptive marketing practices.</p>

[Chakos]

<p><cite>Christofurious wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well, SOE got their money out of me...by slightly deceptive advertising of the double station cash weekend.  I fired up the game launcher and I see a link under the "Did you know?" section that says "It's a double xp and double station cash weekend!".  I clicked on the link to see what time things start and was taken to this page: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605" target="_blank">http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605</a></p><p>On that specific page, it tells me absolutely nothing about the card only restriction...not even a link to the page where it explains all the information about said restrictions.  Just looking at the above page (which is the only advertisement so to speak for this promotion when logging into the game) leads me to believe that buying station cash through the in-game process will provide double station cash.</p><p>As a casual player, I don't tend to browse the forums, nor do I frequent the game's website to see the "news".  I just click on the launcher and play the game.  Any news I get comes from the scrolling banner at top right of the launcher, the Did You Know section under that, and the in-game welcome screen.  It is only because I purchased station cash in the game and saw that I didn't get double for what I spent that I'm even here finding out about the card only restriction and subsequently posting.  I'm probably not going to get my money back and don't know that I'll go through the trouble of trying, but at least fix the link above (by providing a link to or just listing the details abou the card only restriction) or make it more obvious that buying station cash in-game DOES NOT qualify for the so-called double station cash weekend.  This is real world money, I shouldn't have to scour the forums and/or game's website to check for limitations that aren't even hinted at on your "advertising" page that is presented to me on the launcher.  If I have to do that, then you are failing at properly advertising what you are selling (station cash, in this case) and you are engaging in deceptive marketing practices.</p></blockquote><p>It says, right at the bottom of the section you linked to,  "so get those Station Cash <span style="color: #ff0000;">cards</span> ready for redeeming" -- nothing deceptive about it, and no further forum reading necessary unless you didn't know what that sentence meant. If you did not understand it, the fault is with you for not looking further.</p>

[Senya]

<p>I couldn't get any cards either, and I was going to.  I live in town, a small one, but we do have Rite Aid and Wal-Mart, neither of which had the cards.  I bought them at Rite Aid once before but now they no longer carry them.  Double station cash really needs to be double regardless of how you purchase it.  I'm sure they'd see a massive increase of the amount of station cash sold through these promotional weekends if that were the case. </p>

[Christofurious]

<p><cite>Chakos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Christofurious wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Well, SOE got their money out of me...by slightly deceptive advertising of the double station cash weekend.  I fired up the game launcher and I see a link under the "Did you know?" section that says "It's a double xp and double station cash weekend!".  I clicked on the link to see what time things start and was taken to this page: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605" target="_blank">http://everquest2.com/news/read/current/3605</a></p><p>On that specific page, it tells me absolutely nothing about the card only restriction...not even a link to the page where it explains all the information about said restrictions.  Just looking at the above page (which is the only advertisement so to speak for this promotion when logging into the game) leads me to believe that buying station cash through the in-game process will provide double station cash.</p><p>As a casual player, I don't tend to browse the forums, nor do I frequent the game's website to see the "news".  I just click on the launcher and play the game.  Any news I get comes from the scrolling banner at top right of the launcher, the Did You Know section under that, and the in-game welcome screen.  It is only because I purchased station cash in the game and saw that I didn't get double for what I spent that I'm even here finding out about the card only restriction and subsequently posting.  I'm probably not going to get my money back and don't know that I'll go through the trouble of trying, but at least fix the link above (by providing a link to or just listing the details abou the card only restriction) or make it more obvious that buying station cash in-game DOES NOT qualify for the so-called double station cash weekend.  This is real world money, I shouldn't have to scour the forums and/or game's website to check for limitations that aren't even hinted at on your "advertising" page that is presented to me on the launcher.  If I have to do that, then you are failing at properly advertising what you are selling (station cash, in this case) and you are engaging in deceptive marketing practices.</p></blockquote><p>It says, right at the bottom of the section you linked to,  "so get those Station Cash <span style="color: #ff0000;">cards</span> ready for redeeming" -- nothing deceptive about it, and no further forum reading necessary unless you didn't know what that sentence meant. <strong>If you did not understand it, the fault is with you for not looking further.</strong></p></blockquote><p>I figured that I would get a response like this (I just knew that someone would call me out on that last line of the webpage that only completely made sense afterwards).  My whole point is that I shouldn't have to.  That landing page should have the information there, or at the very least, it should have a link to the page that DOES have the information.  My fault for assuming...but I just assumed that the Station Cash cards line was IN ADDITION TO the in game purchasing option (btw, I'm using caps to emphasize my point, not to yell, as I don't have a problem with your response). </p><p>I compare, rightly or wrongly, that landing page to something like a grocery store advertisement.  In that grocery store advertisement, they may have a buy one, get one free sale on Coca-Cola with a restriction of 10 per customer.  They list the restriction...it may be in fine print with an asterisk next to it, but it's listed.  In the case of Station Cash, that restriction isn't listed on the landing page.  Instead, it's mentioned on another webpage that I (after the fact) found by hunting through the community news section until found one about the station cash promotion.  In my comparison, that would be similar to finding out that the 10 Coca-Cola per customer restriction is on a different page of the grocery store flyer.  Now, I realize that grocery store flyer vs. a series of webpages is not a completely accurate one-to-one comparison, but I feel this should be an adequate enough example of listing restrictions on something that you are advertising in the same place as where you are advertising it.</p>

[Amnerys]

<p>Thanks for your feeback, everyone. I'm not sure if including online purchases is something that we'll consider in the future or not, but I'll certainly pass your suggestions along.</p>

[Valdaglerion]

<p>I am sure the marketing people have done their due diligence in determining how many sales they drum up from the retail partners by offering these promotions as an incentive to the retailers to carry their products BUT with mature games like this one what we have seen in the last year seems very contrary . . . </p><p>1. People complaining about having to find retailers that actually carry the game in order to get the pre-order goodies for the expansion</p><p>2. Players complaining about not getting orders in time internationally and domestically to take advantage of the pre-order advance play time</p><p>3. Multiple occassions of player complaints of not being able to get the cards to take advantage of the double cash weekends. No, this isnt the first time this complaint has come up.</p><p>I guess from my limited perspective it would seem more advantageous to . . . </p><p>1. Make your product as easy as possible to get in the hands of your clients</p><p>2. Give them as much incentive as possible to buy directly from you digitally (ie. limiting production cost and either increasing profit or reducing cost to your client, more incentive maybe)</p><p>3. Modify your marketing to better understanding your existing playerbase and how to effectively market to new players.</p><p>Maybe its just me but I have never purchased a subscription based game by buying it in the store. And personally, its subscription based - if you want it flying off the shelves in stores, GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE with the subscription being the only cost involved.</p><p>I have always thought it silly to have to buy a software title and then pay to play it monthly. Just saying . . . </p>

[ancientwhisper]

<p>really would be nice if you could buy station cash from the market place for double  cash bouns. I also live in chicago and could not find any cards went,  to 2best buys 4 gamestops and a toys R Us. only thing I found was the subsriptions cards. would of been nice to been able to find them at best buy got a 250 gift card for fathers day <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. but oh well. You guys should really think about a person be able to get the double cash bouns if they us market place.</p>